Vaso-occlusive devices are implants that are placed in cavities, e.g., an aneurysm, blood vessel lumen, fistula, or other cavity in a patient's vasculature for the purpose of facilitating formation of an thrombus or embolism. Such vaso-occlusive devices are typically delivered by a catheter that is advanced to a treatment site endoluminally, e.g., from a percutaneous entry site, using conventional access procedures.
Well known vaso-occlusive devices include helically-wound coils that assume an elongate, “delivery” configuration when constrained within a delivery catheter, and a three-dimensional, “deployed” configuration when deployed in the body cavity and no longer constrained in the catheter. Once deployed, such vaso-occlusive devices help promote embolization and/or occlusion of the cavity. For example, vaso-occlusive devices are used to fill aneurysm cavities to reduce the risk of the further growth and/or rupture of the aneurysm.
To enhance embolization, it has been suggested to provide a coating on vaso-occlusive devices that reacts in some beneficial way (e.g., with blood) in the body. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,024 discloses vaso-occlusive devices coated with a bioactive agent and/or collagenous material. It has also been suggested to provide a coating on a vaso-occlusive device to facilitate sealing the neck of an aneurysm. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,894 discloses vaso-occlusive devices having a polymeric coating that may be melted to seal the neck of an aneurysm within which the device is deployed. The disclosed method for melting the coating, however, requires introducing an energy source, e.g., a light-emitting device, or a radio frequency (“RF”) electrical energy source, into the blood vessel adjacent the aneurysm to deliver energy to heat and melt the coating.
The above-referenced U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,187,024 and 5,749,894 are each incorporated by reference herein in their entirety for all they teach and disclose.